Teofimo Lopez does body shot challenge with Hafthor Bjornsson

By Boxing News - 10/22/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Three-belt lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez posted a video of himself on social media taking a risky body shot challenge with what he refers to as the world’s strongest man in Hafthor Bjornsson this week.

While it’s impressive that Teofimo chose to take a body shot challenge with a guy Bjornsson’s side, it’s not the smartest thing for him to do with a fight scheduled for next month against George Kambosos Jr. on November 27th.

What is Bob Arum thinking right now?

I wonder what Teofimo’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank is thinking about him taking part in a body shot challenge with Bjornsson while preparing for the Kambosos fight?

Incredibly, Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) took a big body shot from the 6’9″ Icelander Bjornsson without going down. Moments later, Teofimo returned the favor against the mammoth 32-year-old Bjornsson, and he surprisingly stayed on his feet as well.

Hopefully, Teofimo, 24, doesn’t get injured before his November 27th title defense against IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr. (19-0, 10 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Teofimo has been trying to get this lackluster title defense out of the way for ages. It’s taken Teofimo an entire year to get this albatross of a fight out of the way.

If Teofimo had just let his promoters at Top Rank put the fight on with Kambosos, it would have been done with a long time ago. Right now, the last thing Teofimo needs is for the Kambosos fight to be further delayed due to him taking body shot challenges with 6’9″ guys like Bjornsson.

Leonard Ellerbe slams Teofimo Lopez

“He’s a good young fighter, but he and his pops are delusional as it relates to the business. They don’t know the first things about the business,” said Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe to Fighthype about Teofimo Lopez and his dad, Teofimo Sr.

YouTube video

“They actually said they were going to get two million buys for their fight. But I’ve never been an A-side in a main event. You never sold a ticket. He [Teofimo] attempted to sell some tickets.

“He thought he was actually bigger than Floyd Mayweather. I don’t even feel bad for guys like that. Sometimes you have to humble yourself and understand that this is a business and it’s a process.

“Floyd Mayweather didn’t become a household name overnight. It took many years of us plotting and thinking outside the box to make it happen.

“In that kid’s case [Teofimo], he’s got to let his promoter do the job. Bob [Arum] does a good job with knowing how to build fighters, especially Latino fighters.

“You got to let him do his job. Nobody knows who you are outside of hardcore boxing fans, and that’s a fact. You wouldn’t have been sitting there on fight week having sold only 2,000 tickets in a 36,000 seat venue,” said Ellerbe in taking a shot at Teofimo for him not selling tickets.

Teofimo’s victory over an injured Vasily Lomachenko, last year in October went to his head, giving him a false perception of his popularity. It was a good victory, but he made the mistake of thinking that the fight resonated with the casual boxing fans.

That fight was mainly seen by the hardcore fans of the sport. For Teofimo to become famous, he’s got to focus on fighting the big names at 135 and 140 rather than investing a year of his career defending his belts against guys like Kambosos.

In hindsight, Teofimo should have vacated his IBF belt and set up a fight with Ryan Garcia, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, or Devin Haney.